Sexual Abuse Awareness

Hi folks,

In the past week we've been focusing on sexual abuse awareness here at Nightline. This is an incredibly serious topic, and one that should not be taken lightly. (As with last week's post, if you feel that this post will be too triggering for you to read, please put your self care first and stop reading.)

According to the charity Rape Crisis England & Wales, approximately 85,000 women and 12,000 men are raped in England and WAles alone every year. These figures include assaults and attempts. 1 in 5 women aged 16-59 has experienced some sort of sexual violence since the age of 16, and yet only around 15% of those who have experienced sexual violence choose to report to the police.

Sexual abuse is not limited to rape, however. It can include things such as sexual coercion, sexual harrassment, stalking, and groping.

Some signs of sexual abuse can include:

• A change in usual behaviour for no apparent or obvious reason
• Withdrawal, choosing to spend most of their time alone
• Self-harm
• Difficulty in walking or sitting
• Overt sexual behaviour/language which is out of character
• STIs
• Frequent infections
• Severe upset or agitation when being bathed/dressed/undressed/medically examined
• Pregnancy, especially in a person unable to consent

As always, Nightline is here for you, every night of term. 

Yours, 

-Wendy 

Self Harm/Self Injury

Hello!

Today we're going to be talking about the very serious issue of self harm. We will not be talking about specifics of how people self harm, but please stop reading if you think that the topic will be a trigger to you. Your mental wellbeing is important.

There are lots of reasons why people self harm - for some people it is linked to very specific events and is a way of dealing with them. For others, there's no clear cause and can be harder to make sense of. Anybody can self harm, but statistically young people are more likely to. It is thought that around 13% of young people may try to self injure between the ages of 11 and 16. However, the real figure could be much higher.

Self harm is often described as 'attention-seeking behaviour'. However, this is far from the truth. Self harm may be a way for someone to communicate that they are distressed or finding life difficult to manage, but there are lots of ways to 'get attention' without self harming. In actuality, self harm is often a very private act, and it can take months or even years for those self harming to seek help.

Here are several alternatives to self-harm:

- Draw on your skin where you want to self-injure - perhaps write positive thoughts
- Write down how you're feeling on a piece of paper and tear it up
- Smell something with a strong odour
- Spend time with an animal
- Wait 5 minutes - if the feeling doesn't pass, keep waiting 5 minutes until it does

Of course, it will be up to each individual to experiment to see what works for them. There are lots of different emotions that can lead to self harm, and different ways to tackle these emotions.

If you are struggling with self harm, please don't hesitate to contact your local Nightline or mental health charity, and talk to your GP.

As ever,

-Wendy